Today's story is called The Fool on the Hill.
A fool.
What is a fool?
F-O-O-L.
Well, it's a B1 word, and a fool means an idiot.
A silly, stupid person.
Somebody not normal.
Somebody strange.
The fool on the hill.
And a hill is a small mountain.
This is a B1 story, so here we go.
Hello and welcome to Practicing English.
My name is Mike Bilbre and these are podcasts for students of English at B1 or B2 levels.
And if you are a B1 level student trying to reach B2 level, then I recommend my book The Tudor Conspiracy.
Come over to practicingenglish.com and you'll see a picture of the front cover.
Click on that and it will take you to the page where you can buy the book.
So first of all, I'm going to talk about the adjectives that are in this story.
For example, personality adjectives.
For example, useless adjectives.
A useless person, somebody who has no use, who cannot do anything very well.
Useless.
Sensible.
Sensible in English is to do things correctly with common sense.
Sensible.
Efficient, to do things well, again, correctly, and in the best way possible.
Efficient.
Professional.
That means a person who does things in a professional way, which is...
To do things properly, correctly.
A person who is a professional is somebody who does his job correctly.
A professional person.
We've got easygoing in there as well.
An easygoing person.
Sociable. who likes to talk to people.
Everybody likes an easygoing person, don't they?
Pleasant, which is nice, really.
A pleasant person is somebody who is nice to talk to.
And the word reliable is an adjective to describe a person we can trust.
A reliable person is a person who does what we ask them to do.
Reliable.
And a couple of other adjectives to listen for are embarrassing.
So that's a situation which we feel uncomfortable about.
Something perhaps that we do, we go red in the face because we wish we hadn't done it.
So the situation is embarrassing and we feel embarrassed.
Disappointed is the way we feel about something when things go wrong.
When we get bad news, we feel disappointed.
And the situation is disappointing with ing.
Now there are some words in here which are not all B1 words, but are necessary for the story.
First one is a B1 word, which is sunset.
The sunset, S-U-N, the sun in the sky, S-E-T, one word.
And that is when the sun goes down in the evening.
We call that the sunset.
Now these other words aren't B1, but they're in the story.
We have a phrasal verb, to knock down, and to knock something down is to hit it so that it falls.
For example, in this story, it's about knocking down a house.
To knock down.
I have the word hippie.
H-I-P-P-Y.
A hippie is, well, you don't see so many about these days.
Many years ago, young people grew their hair long.
I mean, young men grew their hair long.
They wore flowers in their hair and they believed in love and peace.
Hippies.
I used to be a hippie many, many years ago.
Then we have some words talking about the universe.
For example, the Milky Way.
Now, the Milky Way is the name of our galaxy, which is another word in the story.
Collection of stars which are in a spiral, sort of a circular pattern.
There are millions and millions of these stars in our galaxy, as you will find out.
And our galaxy in English is called the Milky Way.
Milk.
Because of that white colour comes from milk being white, and a way meaning a path, because the Milky Way makes a path across the sky, doesn't it?
Have you ever seen the Milky Way?
It's a wonderful sight.
And then stars are collected into constellations.
As we look from planet Earth, we look out into the night sky and we can see that some stars.
They make patterns or shapes.
And there is a constellation called Orion, which is referred to in the story.
And to see the planets and other things in the night sky, it's helpful if we have some binoculars.
Now, binoculars are like glasses which we hold over our eyes, and they give the impression of things being closer.
So we can see things which are very far away in more detail.
Binoculars.
And similar to binoculars is the telescope, of course, which you look through with just one eye, which magnifies, makes the thing that you're looking at look bigger, so that it brings it closer and you can see it in more detail.
Well, that's it.
Listen for those words in the story, and there's a question.
It's about the mayor.
I mentioned this word in my last story, in the last podcast I did, called, Who was Mr Peabody?
And the mayor appeared in that story as well.
He is the head, the chief, if you like, of the town hall, which is the administrational building for a town or a village or a city.
Well, the town hall would be for a town.
We say city hall. for a city, etc.
So the question is, what happened to the mayor at the end of this story?
What happened to the mayor at the end of the story?
So here we go.
.
.
.
Hello and welcome everybody to the Bigley Town Hall.
For those of you who don't know me, my name is Mr Grundy and I'm the Mayor of Bigley.
This is Mr Lewisham, the project architect, Mr Sidcott, the logistics chief, Mr Cavendish, the regional secretary, and Ms Carruthers, head of administration, at the town hall.
I've arranged this meeting to discuss the building of the new motorway, the M13, over the top of Bigley Hill.
As you know, most of the motorway is now finished.
However, there is still this final part, which must run up to the top of Bigley Hill and down the other side.
Perhaps Mr Lewisham, the architect, will remind us why the road cannot go around the bottom of the hill, which would be the normal route.
Mr Lewisham?
I'd be delighted to explain, Mr Mayor.
Well, it's quite elementary, really.
As you can see on this map, on the western side of Bigley Hill, there's the town of Bigley.
We don't have planning permission to build the motorway around Bigley unfortunately, because the local people have complained about the possible noise pollution.
Quite honestly, I agree with them.
Who wants a motorway on your doorstep?
Then further west, we have Bigley Marshes.
This is a wetlands area, which is soft, wet ground, and therefore not suitable for a motorway.
On the eastern side of Bigley Hill, we have the River Lee.
This is a very broad river, and building a bridge across it would be very expensive.
Too expensive, actually.
That means the only way the motorway can go is over the hill.
Are there any questions?
That seems very clear to me.
So, are there any issues with building the motorway over the hill?
I hope not.
We have no other choice.
Muskeruthers?
Not really.
Well, there is just one house on top of the hill, as we all know, just the one i'm talking about di bono's old house.
It's in the way we would need to knock down that house completely.
So knock it down then.
Well, the fact is he appears to be living in it.
However, perhaps it wouldn't be difficult to move him.
The people in Bigley think he's just a fool and nobody seems to like him.
Nobody wants to know him.
He just stands there, day after day, alone on a hill.
I think Mr. Sidcott has an idea on this issue.
Isn't that right, Mr. Sidcott?
Yes, certainly.
We just need to tell Mr. De Bonio to leave.
We can offer him a tiny, cheap flat in the town.
His house on the hill is falling down anyway.
I'm sure he'll accept these arrangements.
So, have you spoken to him about this, Mr Sidcott?
Er, no, not yet, Mr Mayor.
Why not?
We're wasting time.
I didn't get where I am today by wasting time, Mr Sidcott.
Get up that hill today and tell him.
Of course, Mr Mayor.
I'll do it straight away.
Today's Monday.
We'll meet again this Wednesday at nine o'clock.
.
.
¶¶
Right, Mr Sidcott, as we agreed on Monday you were going to talk to Mr De Bonio to convince him to leave his old house on the hill and move into a flat in the town.
Has he signed the necessary documents?
Um, not exactly.
What do you mean, not exactly, Mr Sidcott?
I didn't get where I am today by saying, not exactly.
Did he or did he not sign the necessary documents agreeing to move into a flat in the town?
I'm afraid he didn't.
I asked him, but he never gives an answer.
He told me that when you watch the sunset, the sun isn't actually going down.
Our world is turning.
In fact, we're moving backwards.
The planet Earth is turning in space.
And as we do, the Sun appears to go down.
But actually, We're moving, not the sun.
We watched the sunset together.
It was quite extraordinary.
I'd never experienced anything like that before.
Mr Sidcott, I would like to remind you that you're Chief of Logistics, not a mad hippie.
We pay you to do a job, not watch stupid sunsets with the fool on the hill who has got his head in a cloud.
Yes, sir.
I know, but I think it would be a shame to move him.
I think he's happy there.
I'm thinking of visiting him again.
He has interesting things to say.
I see.
Well, I don't think Mr Sidcott will have a job here in the town hall next week.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
I didn't get where I am today by trusting useless employees.
Look, everybody, this is a serious issue.
The motorway must go over that hill or we'll all lose our jobs.
The fall must go.
Mr Cavendish.
You are the regional secretary.
You haven't said anything yet, but you seem like a sensible man.
I'd like you to go and talk to De Bonio.
Take the documents and get that fool to sign them.
Talk to him face to face.
Offer him a huge house in the town instead of a small flat.
Can I trust you to do that, Mr Cavendish?
No problem, Mr. Mayor.
Consider it done.
I'm not keen on fools.
I'll have him out of that house on the hill in no time at all.
Trust me, Mr. Mayor.
I didn't get where I am today by not trusting efficient and professional people, Mr Cavendish.
We'll meet again tomorrow morning at nine.
¶¶
Good morning, everybody.
Now, as we all know, Mr Cavendish was going to talk to De Bonio yesterday and make him sign a document to leave his house on the hill and move into a house in Bigley.
Do you have the document, mr cavendish?
I would like to say something i think we should consider before talking about these documents.
As i promised, i visited de borneo yesterday evening at his house on top of the hill.
He's a pleasant man, very easygoing.
He doesn't say much, very quiet.
But when he speaks, he sounds like a man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud.
The document, Mr Cavendish.
Where is the document?
Mr Mayor, sir, just a moment.
When it got dark, De Borneo showed me the night sky.
I'd never seen the sky so dark.
It was black.
That means you can see the stars really well.
Clear and bright.
The document, Mr Cavendish.
Where's the document?
This is becoming embarrassing.
Mr Mayor, he showed me the Milky Way.
It goes right across the sky.
I'd never really looked at it before.
He explained to me that the Milky Way is our galaxy.
He said it was like looking at a glass saucer.
If you put a glass saucer on the table...
It's easy to see the table through the glass.
But if you lift the saucer up and turn it on its side, it's difficult to see through it because you're looking through much more glass.
The Milky Way is the same.
It's like a saucer.
Our solar system is on the edge of our galaxy.
So when you look towards the galaxy centre, you're actually looking through 100,000 million stars.
That's why it looks well white and milky, and all the time the milky way is turning with us in it, round and round and round.
What's the matter with you, mr cavendish?
Have you gone mad too, like mr sidcott?
Mr mayor, If we build a motorway over Bigley Hill, people won't be able to see these wonderful things because there's too much light pollution in the town.
We need to keep Bigley Hill as it is.
This is embarrassing.
I am very disappointed in you, Mr Cavendish.
I thought I could trust you.
I'm not interested in all that environmental rubbish of light pollution.
I didn't get where I am today worrying about light pollution.
I want a motorway, not a Milky Way.
I can see it was hopeless asking you to do a simple job for me.
Hopeless!
Get out of my town hall, now!
That leaves just you two, Miss Carruthers and Mr Lewisham.
This is your last chance.
It's our last chance.
You're the only reliable people I know.
You're going up that hill today and you're going to make that fool sign that document.
If he won't sign, then burn his house down.
Do what you have to do, but that fool is leaving today.
We'll meet tomorrow morning at nine.
.
.
¶¶
Right.
I don't have much time.
I'm meeting the Minister for Industry later today.
I hope I'll have some good news to give him about the construction of the motorway.
Have you got the document?
Yes, Mr Mayor.
Here it is.
Oh, that's marvellous news.
At long last.
Let me have a look.
What's this?
This is just a piece of paper with little round circles on it.
You've made a mistake.
Where is the real document with De Bonio's signature on it?
Mr. Mayor, don't you see?
This is much more interesting.
It's a map of the stars in the sky.
We spoke to Debonio about leaving his house and moving to the town, but he never gives an answer.
He showed us the night sky, just as he did with Mr Cavendish.
He drew that map for us of the Orion constellation.
Orion is the most famous constellation that can be seen from all over the world.
It comes from ancient Greece.
He was a hunter.
He is holding a sword in his left hand.
But the amazing thing is what you can see next to his belt.
Even without binoculars or a telescope, you can see our neighbour galaxy.
It's called Andromeda.
It's over two and a half million light years away, but every second it's getting further and further away, until one day we'll never see it again.
It seems so sad to lose our only neighbor.
Both Mr. Lewisham and I cried.
Mr De Bonio might be a fool, but he sees the sun going down and the eyes in his head see the world turning round.
He never listened to us about moving to the town.
He knows that we're the fools.
Mad.
That's what the two of you are.
Mad, mad, mad.
I can tell what he wants to do, this fool.
I can tell what he wants to do.
And I don't like him.
I'm going up that hill now with my Doberman and I'll have him out of that house before my meeting with the Minister of Industry this afternoon.
I didn't get where I am today by listening to fools.
That motorway was never built over Bigley Hill.
In fact the M13 motorway wasn't built at all.
If you go up bigley hill to-day, you'll see mr de bonio's old house is still there.
In the evenings, when the sky is clear, lots of people come up the hill from the town of bigley and stand there next to mr de bonio and watch the stars.
I went to Bigley Hill just the other day at sunset and I wasn't surprised to see De Bonio outside his house next to the mayor.
The mayor was standing perfectly still, quietly watching the western sky.
He sees the sun going down, and the eyes in his head see the world turning round.
Until next time, goodbye for now.
